DEC Increases Deer Management Permit Availability For 2023 Season

According to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, hunters who harvest antlerless deer play a critical role in helping keep New York’s deer population and wildlife habitat healthy. Harvesting antlerless deer helps keep deer populations below habitat carrying capacity which reduces competition for resources for deer and other species of wildlife. The primary tool used by DEC to facilitate the harvest of antlerless deer is the Deer Management Permit or DMP. DMPs provide hunters additional opportunities to harvest antlerless deer in particular wildlife management units (WMU) to meet desired deer population objectives.

Ahead of each deer season, DEC biologists evaluate deer population and habitat data to determine the number of DMPs that will be available to hunters in each wildlife management unit. Between August 1^st and October 1^st, hunters may apply for two DMPs within the same or two different WMUs. The probability of selection is based on the number of DMPs available and the number of hunters expected to apply in a particular WMU, but the chances of selection remain the same throughout the entire application period.

Hunters may also transfer or receive up to two deer management permits from other hunters and any leftover after the initial application period become available again to hunters through license issuing agents beginning November 1^st.

For 2023, DEC has increased the availability of DMPs across the majority of the state, largely in response to continued mild winters and the recovery of deer populations affected by outbreaks of epizootic hemorrhagic disease in 2021.

The DEC encourages New York hunters to do their part to help steward New York’s deer herd by applying for DMPs and harvesting at least one antlerless deer this coming season.